You paid how much?!

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Shares of Tiffany & Co. shot up over 12% to $95.68 – the most in almost six years and, well, why not? After all the high-end bling company scored some epic digits in its latest earnings report, proving once again that people really do like expensive jewelry. I mean, was it ever even a question? Even though the declining euro against the dollar seems to be messing with everybody else’s earnings Tiffany & Co. seemed to emerge from the quarter virtually unscathed. Sadly, I was not the recipient of any high-end Tiffany & Co. pieces lately, but plenty of other lucky consumers were as it was the high-end collections that drove sales for the luxury retailer this past quarter. Those pricey accessories took in $962.4 million in revenue, with profits of $104.9 million and 81 cents per share. Analysts only predicted 69 cents per share. Sort of impressive, except that last year Tiffany & Co. pulled down $1 billion in revenue with $125.6 million in profits and 97 cents per share. Those shares, by the way, are down 20% for the year. But considering that the company just increased its forecast, those stock prices might be making a comeback.

Going down down down…

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Unfortunately for Michael Kors, his fashion company took a nasty beating over the declining euro. But it wouldn’t be right to blame all the company’s bad earnings on the strong dollar as other factors also caused the company’s stock to plunge. While it may be hard to believe, it was just a few months ago that the stock hit an all time high of $97.60. Today, however, the stock is teetering at just under $46, its lowest point since December 2012 when it first made its IPO. Besides the strong dollar, same store sales were down a very uncool 6%. That may not seem like such a big deal but for Michael Kors it’s huge, especially when you take into consideration that the retailer also reduced its earrings outlook. Coach and Kate Spade are definitely giving Michael Kors an unwelcome run for its money, as well. When the dismal earnings for Michael Kors were announced, though, those two companies also saw their shares take a beating, as investors wondered whether bad earnings for fashion companies would be trending. Another culprit behind Kors’ earnings was Apple. No joke. While accessories tend to be hot sellers and profit drivers for companies like Michael Kors, the Apple watch is putting a major chink in those sales. After all, if you’re already spending that kind of cash on your wrist, why not have an Apple watch perched there?

Bubble burster…

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Is there an IPO on the horizon for messaging app Snapchat? Maybe. Except CEO Evan Spiegel declined to elaborate on some key details during an interview with Re/code’s Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. For instance, the 24 year old founder wouldn’t even drop an itty bitty hint as to when Snapchat might make its big ticker debut. Speigel also dished out his thoughts on several other topics including his feelings that our current tech bubble is going to burst. Which is informative and all but really, when’s this Snapchat IPO coming at us? With 100 million users sending out around 700 million pics a day, the company has picked up funding and is valued at around $10 billion to $15 billion – depending on whom you ask, of course. But about that Snapchat IPO…

I don’t care for most brand names, but I’ll admit that I do drool a bit over Michael Kors. One of my friends got me a MK watch for Christmas, it’s huge, it’s shiny, and just like he said when I opened it, he wanted to give me something I’d never get myself! I’d never spend the money, but boy do I love it! 🙂